Match report

Match report

Play started between Woodside and Rangers at 11:30 on Ashton Oval. With soft soil from interim renovations on the pitch, the players were not sure if it would be better
or worse.
Both teams were energetic as the whistle blew. Woodside saw a few shots go wide from the
beginning, however the ball mostly stayed in the centre of the ground. To open the scoring, Woodside
found an unmarked player in the box who placed the ball bottom corner. Shortly
after, Woodside received a few corners and got two more goals, one from a header and one from a
scrappy situation right in front of the goal. Whilst down, Rangers held their heads up, getting the ball
to Joseph Bellamy who gave probably the best through ball of Rangers’ season, but the ball didn’t
reach the net. Woodside were back on the attack with another goal, making the score 4-0 at half
time.
Into the second half, Rangers saw a few position changes - one of these was Cathryn Williams at
centre back, who did a great job intercepting passes and going up to pass off to teammates, a Rangers’ best player performance. The first goal of the second half came
from Woodside, drawing a great double save from Azzi Dowling-Mcclelland yet still reaching the net
on the third attempt. In the process, the ball injured Azzi’s fingers; after initially playing on, he retired hurt (a broken finger was confirmed after the game). Joseph Bellamy was now in
goal, and Rangers were down to 10 players.
Both teams had many chances as play restarted. Alex Smith had a few great long-range shots that
narrowly missed, and Woodside scored 3 goals, one of which was shot far from the penalty area and
centimetres away from the top corner, yet scored off the rebound.
Overall it was a good, fair game in which both teams played well.